In the past 12 years, she has gone from victim to advocate, from confused child to focused adult, from someone forced to walk the streets to someone who pounds the pavement against those who would abuse children.

Albright-Byrd brought a powerful message of redemption, love and courage to several hundred students and other community members Thursday inside San Joaquin Delta College's Atherton Auditorium.

"This is a revolutionary time for those of us trying to change human trafficking," she said. "I will die fighting this. I will take my last breath fighting it. Purchasers don't get to rape our children."

Albright-Byrd is the 29-year-old founder of Sacramento-based Bridget's Dream, a nonprofit organization dedicated to battling sex trafficking. She also is a noted motivational speaker and public-policy activist.

She worked to secure passage last year of Proposition 35, which stiffened the penalties for those convicted of human trafficking.

Her first words Thursday were aimed at San Joaquin County.

"There are victims within Stockton," she said. "They were exploited and never left the city."

Albright-Byrd has made it her life's mission to address the issues surrounding human trafficking, particularly as they relate to children lured into the sex trade. She is a survivor of that victimization, having grown up in a home marked by addiction and molestation and then running away at 14. She met a man who pulled her into nearly four years of exploitation on the streets of San Francisco and Sacramento. Albright-Byrd experienced physical, emotional and sexual abuse as well drug addiction and multiple arrests.

At 18, she became a Christian after meeting Deanna Hurn, who she calls her "spiritual mommy." The encounter gave her the courage to walk away.

Albright-Byrd went back to school, eventually earning a degree in theology and counseling psychology from William Jessup University, a small Christian college in Rocklin.

In 2011, she founded Bridget's Dream to honor Bridget Gray, a close friend and a victim of sex-trafficking who was murdered in Las Vegas in 2006.

"I do what I do because of Bridget," Albright-Byrd said. Her organization provides intervention, prevention and training. Its website motto reads: "One died so millions can live."

Benjamin Saffold, in charge of special events and outreach at Stockton's Gospel Center Rescue Mission, was in the audience Thursday.

"I am shocked to know that this global phenomenon connects to our neighborhood and has landed at our doorstep," Saffold said.

He said the mission and its staff frequently discuss new ways to improve their service to the community.

Residents of San Joaquin County are no strangers to human trafficking.

In May, a five-city Northern California "sex-trade organization" was busted when Stockton police detectives raided a North San Joaquin Street brothel.

In July, a $10,000 grant from the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael helped launch the county's first anti-human trafficking program.

For three years, Temple Baptist Church in Lodi has hosted a Stop Human Trafficking workshop sponsored by a coalition of community groups.

The Stockton-based Women's Center-Youth & Family Services has been at the forefront of raising local awareness of sex trafficking.

Albright-Byrd's talk delivered a human face - and a voice of authenticity - to the issue.

"California is a hub for sex trafficking," she said. "Child exploitation is the most hidden form of child abuse in North America.

"And my heart is invested in what happens in my community. Light up your corner. Hope is the antidote."